A DAMNING report on the failure of Britain's police forces to use forensic scientists says the service owes a "debt of professional gratitude" to Durham Constabulary.

The police inspectorate accuses chief officers and senior detectives across England and Wales of mismanagement, lack of leadership and other procedural shortcomings in an official report released today.

But Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary acknowledges the "tremendous contribution" made by Durham in plugging the gaps in national training. The force launched the National Training Centre (NTC) for Scientific Support to Crime Investigation at Harperley Hall, near Crook, a decade ago and trains about 1,000 residential students every year.

The report states: "It is remark-able the training of so many specialists has fallen on the shoulders of one small force. Since its inception, the NTC has gained national and international recognition as a centre of excellence, for which the Durham Police Authority, Dur-ham Constabulary and the staff should take great pride.

"The centre is well placed to contribute significantly to crime reduction and detection and to the future success of the criminal justice system as a whole.

"There is, therefore, no actual or implied criticism of the past work of the NTC; indeed, it has filled an important void."

The report also states that without more funding in the future, Harperley Hall may not meet police training needs.

The director of the training centre, Peter Ablett, said Durham Police Authority had done all it could over the past ten years, but needed about £5.5m to carry out major improvements to teaching facilities, information technology suites and practical training areas.

The centre's expertise is known worldwide, with the graduate's skills called on to help solve some of today's most serious crimes.

Mr Ablett said Harperley Hall has trained people from 28 countries and says they take so many students from around Britain, it was time they were incorporated in national police training.